The present invention generally relates to the field of balloon devices that occupy spaces within remote cavities and more particularly relates to the catheters/conduits used to inflate these devices with fluid.
One example of balloon devices that occupy space in a remote cavity is a intragastric balloon for weight loss. According to 2010 World Health Organization data, 198 million Americans over the age of 15 are above target weight. Of these individuals, 89 million are considered overweight (25<Body Mass Index<30) and 109 million are considered obese (Body Mass Index>30). Worldwide, more than 1.4 billion adults age 20 and over are overweight, and 500 million are obese. Obesity places patients at increased risk of numerous, potentially disabling conditions including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, and musculoskeletal disorders. Compared with healthy weight adults, obese adults are more than three times as likely to have been diagnosed with diabetes or high blood pressure. In the United States it is estimated that one in five cancer-related deaths may be attributable to obesity in female non-smokers and one in seven among male non-smokers (>=50 years of age). On average, men and women who were obese at age 40 live 5.8 and 7.1 fewer years, respectively, than their healthy weight peers.
For the vast majority of the overweight and obese population for whom surgical obesity procedures are not appropriate, few efficacious and affordable interventions are currently available. Diet and exercise remain the front line approaches to obesity, however this approach has at best slowed the growth of the epidemic. To date, drug therapies have dose limiting side effects or have lacked meaningful long term efficacy.
One less-invasive intervention that has begun to gain popularity is an intragastric balloon. Intragastric balloons in their uninflated state can be placed endoscopically or positioned using other methods and, once in place, are typically filled with a filling fluid through a thin catheter or conduit extending up the esophagus from the device in the stomach to an external fluid supply. This catheter is then removed from the device and extracted from the body through the esophagus. Upon removal of the catheter, the catheter fill system must seal the fluid communication between the interior of the device and the gastric environment to maintain the balloon in its filled state for the proscribed time.
Several approaches to sealing the catheter system have been developed. For example, in US20130012980 Brister describes the use of a septum, or rubber-like plug, through which a filling needle is disposed. Upon removal of the needle the rubber-like material elastically closes the puncture. While such a system is well-accepted for inflating athletic equipment such as footballs, it does require the hard, rubber-like septum to remain in the intragastric balloon for the life of the balloon.
Another approach for use in breast implants has been disclosed by Becker in US2010/0110311 in which a filling tube comprising a soft, flexible hollow tube portion and a barbed, solid distal portion is pre-installed through a piece of “semi-rigid tube” that penetrates the balloon wall. The filling tube has an outer dimension that is slightly larger than the inner dimension of the semirigid tube and is stretchable longitudinally to reduce the outer diameter to facilitate passage through the passageway in the semirigid tube. Supposedly, the outer diameter of the solid portion of the filling tube can be reduced by said longitudinal stretching to allow the solid portion to be pulled into the semi-rigid tube. The solid portion then sealingly engages the semirigid tube upon relaxation thereof. The significant force that must be applied to the filling tube to pull the solid portion into the semirigid tube apparently requires that the semirigid tube is attached to the balloon wall by a reinforcing disk of material. However, this construction prevents the balloon described by Becker from being compacted into an ingestible capsule when uninflated. The inventor further notes that expansion of the solid portion upon relaxation is not adequate to ensure the solid portion remains in the semirigid portion and that “A key element in the . . . invention resides in means such as a plurality of reverse barbs for preventing a plug valve from being dislodged . . . .”
Commonly assigned publication US20130218190, discloses a self-sealing tunnel valve comprising two layers of thin film material through which a flexible fill catheter is disposed. The two layers tend to close together upon catheter withdrawal. This tunnel valve is extremely soft and flexible, making it suitable for compaction into an ingestible capsule and for long term residence in the stomach.
It would be desirable to have a self-sealing valve that is small and/or soft enough to be compacted into an ingestible capsule while also providing a distinct sealed condition.